


With Friends Like These...

by Ella_Em



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternative Meeting, Casual Tears in the Fabric of the Universe, Crack Treated Seriously, Cringeworthy dialogue, Enemies to Friends, Epic Bromance, F/M, Freestyle use of punctuation, Gen, Metaphors, PSL, Sassy Baristas, Slight Blasphemy, Too little story too much plot, what is linear plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-20 10:10:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8245342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ella_Em/pseuds/Ella_Em
Summary: When two known arch enemies are seen having coffee together, the campus' radio station is the first to have all the details- unless of course crafty baristas figure it out first.





	

_“You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,_

_but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly._

_There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. “_

_-Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_

„Do you know how much that cost me??“

„Nothing, all you literally had to do was press one button“

„Um, excuse me - my effort and hard work are priceless! And I hope it gives you diabetes“

„Diabetes?? This, this caramel macchiato is the queen of coffees and since I created it, I’m basically god- you should bow down to me“

„You’re awful and I’m honestly disgusted.“

 

Sarah tried to hide her smile, watching Seth wind up Jess was always a sure way to cheer her up.

Normally she would have avoided a place like this, especially working there. Eternally hipster infested at best and full of up-tight, privileged white kids at worst. To be fair, there admittedly were worse places of employment, the café was a small and familiar affair, situated right outside the busier streets of town, in a street filled with old timbered houses which gave working there a subtle charm. That was why –understandably- the best and most fought over seats where the old and worn armchairs just by the big window, which allowed for a perfect people watching spot. So when Jemma had asked her if she could cover some of her shifts she just couldn’t decline.

Jemma was just too good a soul, to let down. Also she may or may not have been going on about her passive- aggressively flirting co-workers and some of the funnier and decent customers.

To say that she put on her customer voice and service face just out of the goodness of her heart would be taking it a little too far though, everybody had heard the news after all. It had even got its own segment on the Campus’ Radio Morning Show with the inventive name „The Breakfast Club“ – the world must really be an imperfect place, if that level of creativity got you a job at the university’s radio station.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_„Campus Radio: Goooood Morning, dear listeners and Campus peeps wake up pleasantly every day with ya favourite morning show „The Breakfast Club“ because if we can get up early so can you haha!_

_Aaaaand we have stories to tell ya, you guys won’t be-lieve it!_

_< UNIVERSITY>_

_In our academic segment today we have news for all you seniors!_

_The top five places to avoid if ya don’t wanna walk into freshmen include as always the library, the cafeteria, Wendy’s, the Beertender_ _,_ _aaand the student counsellor’s office – stay safe guys and a very hearty welcome to our new students._

_< PARTY>_

_Aaron Samuels, the football jock is allegedly hosting a party at his daddy’s mansion five miles out, and Wes Martins the son of our beloved janitor has offered his dads bus to take you there- he wants you to know that there’s 50 seat available, he’ll be the one deciding who’s getting in and you don’t even have to bother with buying him chocolate - the link to his amazon wish list is on our homepage HaHaaa what a crafty guy, we at ‚The Breakfast Club’ LOVE you, Wes and -for the record- take back all the nasty things we’ve said about your haircut in junior year..._

_< HOT>_

_Was that Annie Cornell we just saw with newly waxed eyebrows, time she got rid of this unibrow – you go gurrl, you go!_

_< NOT>_

_but Annie, honey, did you really have to wax them all of?? Those thin lines are sooo 2000..._

_< TIPP OF THE WEEK> _

_Use the code on our website to save up to 15% on orders from Joey’s pizza_

_’Joey’s pizza, the best use of cheese we’ve ever seen’_

_< GOSSIP>_

_Despite their well-documented animosities and – dare we say it – hatred displayed over their social media and – on one memorable occasion- even in the sacred halls of our cafeteria, Eva Marie H. and Laura B. have been seen going out for Coffee at Starbucks. And I know you might be thinking ’No way Jose’ but apparently it didn’t end in bloodshed....YET. Hahaha stay tuned for more- only on your favourite radio show, come read the full write-up on our homepage: campustalk98.com_

Xoxo Gossip Girl“

__

_Extract from campustalk98.com< Student Life< Gossip< 2016< 10_

_The respective heads of student council and the competitive writing club who’ve come to questionable celebrity status via their escalating arguments in class and on the hallways. Let’s take a trip down memory lane: Rewind to October 2k15: They meet in Comparative Lit 101 and have a discussion about Freudian Psychoanalysis in Edgar Poe’s Valdemar, nobody present remembers anything of that because they fell asleep, long story short afterwards it was all just nasty stares in hallway and tension in the library, as well as haughty, brash statements over cafeteria tables._

_Now they’re cosying up over coffee – what did we miss? Stay tuned for more inside information as the story unfolds._

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The campus radio truly was utter trash, but it was also the one station they could tune in without having to pay for it. She couldn’t, however, deny that she was a bit curious about the alleged feud between the two girls. She had seen both of them in class, never in the same class obviously, but she shared some classes with either Eva or Laura and they both seemed, well friendly and very laid back – respectively. And – and this was the surprising thing – very good at having civilised discussions.

So when Jayden, one of her classmates who worked at another subsidiary of The Busy Bean (yes, in such a densely populated area with two universities so close together, even independent shops with punny names had more than one branch) had told her that since their outing at Starbucks, they had opted for varying between stores instead and so had been seen hanging out here for quite some time the past three weeks, she decided to see for herself even if that meant enduring the sickeningly sweet smell of caramel mocha lattes for eight hours a day.

 

Working at Jayden’s location would have meant too much public transport than Sarah could have handled in addition to working at a busy café, but since Jemma had asked anyhow and this coffee bar was basically five minutes from her dorm, she had neither a good excuse not to, nor any objections against seeing the gossip with her own eyes.

 

When they finally walk through the door on her third day of working there, it’s almost a bit anti-climactic, there’s no wind blowing through their hair and they are definitely not Serena van der Woodsen or Blair Waldorff lookalikes. But what leaves Sarah with no doubt about their character is the air of recklessness and badassery that accompanies them through the door.

 

Ten minutes later, when they are actually ordering their drinks (and bickering over the hipster-ness of their respective choices), Sarah can hardly believe she ever thought them to be cool.

They also seem to be – well quite comfortable in each other’s presence, seem to have an easy sort of companionship, looking almost cosy in the floral upholstered armchairs by the fireplace – electric, lest there be actual flames- but a fireplace none the less. Apparently they also know each other’s orders, apparently they share pictures on their phones, snapchat and trade books – without starting a fight.

Man, was this the reason Jayden wanted her to see this?

She was so gonna double text Jemma and him after her shift

 

Eva and Laura liked The Busy Bean for its reclusiveness, off of the normal student tracks and thus a perfect meeting spot for public enemies. Right now they were huddled together over the coffee table and ranting about the stupidity of mankind. A regular occurrence.

Comfortable with the ambience and the steady lull of conversation from the other customers, they talk while the hours pass by.

__________________________________

 

“Wow, I swear it was raining cats and dogs out there just half an hour ago...”. Eva remarks, as they get up to put their jackets on.

“It’s the weather. It changes, that’s what it does”. Laura replies drily.

“Har har, but seriously it was like Armageddon, what did we miss?”

“Holy shit”, Laura breathes out.

They had just managed to step outside the shop when it literally hits them

It being the fluffy Maine Coon kitten that just tried Eva’s shoulder as a landing spot- and found it woefully lacking.

With a miserable and more than slightly annoyed ’Meow’ it lets its displeasure be known.

Laura and Eva are gobsmacked.

Well Eva is, Laura has busied herself with stroking the cat

The moment of surprised stupor doesn’t last long though

Despite the sky being surprisingly dry now and devoid of rain, it’s full of something else though.

It looks like fluffy specks of colour which are just crashing down to earth

Before they can investigate further a Samoyed puppy lands on the marquise in front of the shop. Which sign now proudly states ‘Busy’ – next to a real life quivering beehive.

“Fascinating”, Laura decrees.

“Is it a coffee shop or just a concept of one?”

Eva grumbles and gets a chair from the veranda to try and save the dog.

“Weird”, Laura comments, “Definitely weird”, Eva agrees, dog save in her arms.

She sets it down carefully and it dashes away.

Still the sun was out and damn it was hot.

Suspiciously hot for October, Eva decided, shedding her coat and jumper.

Laura, in her jeans jacket just shrugged and pulled out her sun glasses.

“But”, she said, “I will grant you that, it’s very bright”

Hesitatingly they lifted their heads to the cause of the sudden heat.

Holy shit.

The sun was burning.

That in and on itself wasn’t a very mind-blowing fact of course but instead of the yellow circle, kids are so fond of putting in the corner of their paintings, it looked like a literal fiery, flaming fire ball.

“Ok, so now this is definitely weird”

“Now? There were kittens and puppies falling from the sky, it was practically raining just seconds ago.”

“Yeah, but...that was strange in a god way – now this is.... just strange.”Eva looked uncomfortable from the sky into the direction the dog left in.

“Ok, calm down, Nerd, let’s find out what’s happening.”

They turned around and surveyed the area. At first glance all the streets did actually look the same, apart from the fact that there were no cars anywhere and -come to think of it- no streetlights, street signs or markings on the tar.

“I don’t feel good about this, we might as well neon signs over our heads ‘Don’t belong here, please take us home—“ A sudden whooshing sound stops Eva from finishing her sentence. Unsure they look up and – sure enough- there are two neon signs over their respective heads pronouncing them foreigners. They share a look, it would be funny if it wasn’t so confusing, they laugh anyways. Luckily the signs vanish as quickly as the ‘rain’.

Laura recovers first, “Ok, we need a strategy”

“What do you think there’s gonna be? A foreign embassy for people from another world, should we just go to NASA and tell them we’re positively otherworldly??” Eva’s voice has taken on a slightly hysteric tone.

Laura figures that staying calm would be the best choice of action “Do they have NASA here?”, she wonders.

“Dunno, maybe”, Eva says defeatedly. “Check your phone, do you have mobile reception?”.

“Nope, not even voice service.”.

“Huh, figures.”.

“Where even are we?”

They looked around, while the café still existed and the houses looked the same, the street sign had vanished.

“Let’s just walk around for a bit and see if we can find some people”, Laura suggested practically.

“Unless they’re all savages”, Eva said darkly.

“Could savages build houses?”

“Dunno but at least we know they have neon signs”

She grinned, they might be lost in a wacko parallel world but she couldn’t have found anyone she’d rather have on her side right now.

They hitched their bags up on their shoulders and made their way down the street onto the way which – at least in their reality – would lead them towards the city centre

Even though they ‘rain’ had stopped and the sky was clear and a white blue, they felt distinctly unsettled and walked in near silence alongside each other.

“I mean, what are we supposed to do? Find an elder to guide us out? A literal white rabbit?”

“Who knows”, Laura said lightly,” neither Jesus nor Shitty.”

“Jesus might even be of help here – if we assume god created the entire world and all its parallel realities..”, Eva remarked.

 

 

It felt weird to be walking around a town that was simultaneously very familiar and very foreign. Like we were just visitors, simply tourists passing through – looking around with that forced attention to detail that sets them apart from the blind stares of the locals.

The atmosphere seemed kinda eerie, neither of us could put our finger on it but we couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched. Nothing conspicuous or continuously by some weirdos with binoculars but just a subtle kind of wariness and disliked that seemed to emanate from everyone we passed. We tried not to come to close to them anyhow and to make ourselves as unobtrusive and unnoticeable as possible but they gave us a wide berth on their own and followed our backs with hostile glances.

We just couldn't seem to fit in our clothes posing at least one of the problems. We had been walking for quite some time, slowly coming to the unnerving realization that apart from the given locations nothing seemed familiar. No shop, no house- it seemed like the town had been propelled some 150 years back. And why were there no cars?

“This just feels so wrong”, Laura said, “we should go back to the busy bean, maybe if we simply go back in we’ll also get back”

“Seems like a plan”, Eva agreed, “but look”

She pointed her finger upwards

Laura followed her movement and glanced upwards seeing that they had reached the church near the city centre, usually the benches around it were packed with busy students or wayward teens, but now they were all empty – it seemed like a wonder they were even still here, or was it yet? Laura made a face, this was starting to really mess with her mind and thy was not. on!

“So what do you say?” Eva interrupted her thoughts. “Hm?” Laura shook her head and looked inquisitively at her friend. “Wanna go in and see if we can find any clues?” Laura hesitated only for a second, before shrugging “Oh, yeah sure”. Eva nodded and they made their way over to the iron gate.

Once we were inside the church we were almost disappointed- it looked very normal and very bare.

“We didn’t think this through, I mean how would we know if the inside has changed I mean- will change, if we haven’t ever been here in our reality?”

Eva just nodded, let out a sigh and startled – goosebumps rose up her flesh and her breath had come out in a very much visible cloud. “Is it just me or has It suddenly dropped some ten degrees?!” She whispered.

“Uncanny”, Laura agreed, “definitely uncanny”

Cautiously they walked alongside the pews toward the altar. It was a small marble affair with an ingrained relief. Illuminated by a dim light, flowing around like a halo. Illuminated?? “Stop.” Laura touched Eva's arm and held her back. She nodded in direction of the stone, “This – whatever this is- it doesn't feel right.”.

“Together?” “Together.” Just as the make their first few steps, the room darkens. If the church was cold before, it's freezing now. “What the –” Eva starts, but doesn't get to finish her sentence. A sudden whirring noise cuts her off. Nearly in sync they turn toward the noise and in a split second decide to leave, leave as fast as possible. But it's too late- they are caught in a bright circle of light. “Fuck”, Laura hisses emphatically. “Are you looking for something in particular?” A deep warm voice sounds over the sound of their combined fast breathing. Dazed and trying to catch their breath they look up. A man, in a priest’s garb is holding a flashlight and shining it at their feet.

Eva is the first to catch her breath, “Who are you?” The tall man smiles, answering “I'm elder Marcus. I am somewhat of a handler of this-” he seems to search for the right expression, “house.”, he finally settles on.

“Handler?”, remarks Laura, who has sufficiently recovered by now, “whatever in god’s name is there to handle about a church?” Elder Marcus smiles self-deprecatingly. “The house has a life of its own so to speak. And in all my time here, I can’t say I have discovered all its mysteries yet.” He smiles again. “And how long would that be?” “A while”, he says frowningly. Eva and Laura exchange looks. “Soo”, Laura begins, “you know there’s something going on in your town? Something strange?” “Well”, he starts, “I wouldn’t say something is going on in our town, or at least not on our town’s initiative, I think she” – he pats the altar lovingly – “is the one to blame actually.” The shared look now also incorporates eyebrows lifted to new heights. “And”, Eva starts, “do you know how we can get back” “What is it with all you visitors, no one who ever found me was even tempted to stay.”, he grumbles. “We’re sure it’s not your fault.”, Laura says appeasingly. “Yes, yes, the oracle’s in the confessional, good luck.”, with that he leaves briskly. “Well then”, they look at each other, square their shoulders and go to confess.

 

“What are we supposed to do with that”,Laura huffs annoyedly. “I’ve read fortunes cookies more forthcoming”, Eva agrees. The prophecy, they apparently had to fulfill in order to leave had been most unsatisfying to say the least.

“Ok, so we gotta kill the king and be…cautious I guess?” “Whatever ‘king’ stands for, I hope we don’t have to actually off someone..”

“True, well at least, ‘Remember curiosity must kill the cat’, is pretty clear.”

“Ok, so we have a mission” “That we do.” “So let’s go”

Just as they had made their way out of the church, they noticed a new poster put up on one of the big trees in front of the church. It was an invitation to a town history exhibition. “Hey, we should go there”, Eva said excitedly, “this might lead us to the king.”

“I thought you said it wasn’t a person?” “I _hope_ it isn’t a person, but since we know nothing so far, this might be a good point to start.” “Ok, let’s try.” 

 

The exhibition was as boring as one would expect from small random town history ones, some old pictures in black and white, which depicted a mostly rural landscape, as well as transcriptions of conversations with older town inhabitants. After a quick scan through those, they decided they weren’t of much help.

 

While they were inspecting a page taken from a medieval handwritten bible, a shadow suddenly crept over them. Alarmed they whipped around and saw eye to eye with a small man. “Oh, excuse me, I didn’t mean to startle you”, he apologised, his voice had an unpleasant nasal drawl to it. “Do you want to learn more about this city’s past?”, he asked with a crooked smile, “I know a lot of old stories.I could even show you around my house, it’s actually the oldest one around here ” The man was kind of unnerving. Slowly Eva and Laura crept away from him and the exhibit, “No, thank you, very kind, but actually we were just passing through.”, Laura countered. “Oh, I know”, the man smiled again, “you’ve come from pretty far away, haven’t you? Or well, maybe you haven’t, distance is somewhat hard to measure when you’re talking worlds apart, isn’t it?”

“Who _are you_?”, Eva asked incredulously. “Oh, I’m just a wanderer let’s say, a wanderer like you. Look at this page again-“ He pointed a long finger back at the exhibit and put his other hand on Laura’s back. “See, this image is taken from the Fall of Man, all gods creatures lived happily in paradise, but when men and women began to understand the power of their own words that was how sin came into the world” His voice took on a nasty sneer. “I kinda remember a different Genesis”, Eva said lightly. “Well yes, because your worlds genesis is written in metaphors – we don’t really have those anymore”, he argued tensely.

“What a cruel world”, Laura remarked

“I suppose ‘cruel’ is one word to describe it”, he shrugged, “but sometimes that’s the only way to teach a lesson – that’s why I am sure you can forgive me for what I have to do”

In a sudden burst of air, he is gone, and with him, Laura. Eva whirled  around, but no, they are nowhere to be seen.

She can feel her heat beat all the way to her finger tips, her ears are rushing with the sound of her blood, “Fuck”, she say empathetically. She closes her eyes, and yes, yes, that might work, she rushes down the stairs back outside.

__________________________________

 

“Unreal, that would never work”

“Yeah, what a cheap solution, do you even want to save me??”

“Oh, hush, nobody’s asked for your opinion!”

__________________________________

 

An old couple block her way along the narrow alley, as Eva makes to squish past, they start making a scene. From a few blocks ahead, she hears Laura’s scream.

“Oh, sorry did you here that?”, she asks. They look ignorant. She pushes past them.

“Trouble’s calling I’ll better go to her, very nice to make your acquaintance, pleasure’s all mine and all that, cheerio” She takes of. They huff and look disapprovingly after her.

__________________________________

 

“Wait, what- have you suddenly become friends?? How did that happen?”

“Well, you know, at this point we’ve kinda been through a lot and….---whatever, ask your questions at the end, don’t interrupt my storytelling”

“Yeah, you’re cramping her flow like—mightily!”

“Oh, ok sorry- do go on”

__________________________________

 

Eva ran, as fast as her legs would carry her, toward the source of the noise. She had an idea where to go. Once she reached the street from where she suspected the scream, she found herself in a small dead-end street, with three houses. Luckily only one of them looked old enough to be the oldest in town. Without hesitation she ran to the door and tried the handle, to her surprise, it was open.

Just as he made to rush in, someone grabbed her bag strap and yanked her back. As she turned around she saw a small old lady, looking at her with glinting eyes. “I’ve waited so long for someone to finally take him out”, she whispered, “and I’m so glad to have caught you before you go in, listen: Names are important, and the ones you give yourself even more so – in this world the only way to win the game is to understand the rules, and I think you might be able to beat him at his game. No hurry”.

Eva looked bewildered at the spot, the woman had just vacated, then she shook her head and went into the house.

The hallway is dimly lit by the gleam of sun coming through the slits in the wooden walls.

Eva holds her breath and starts inching towards the stairs from where she heard scuffling sounds.

On the top landing of the stairs she can see a kinda subdued light

She could have saved herself the trouble of sneaking, because suddenly the light vanishes and she can make out the silhouette of a man, a tall and beefy man by the looks of it, someone whose name was probably Steve or Angus.

“Well, well if it isn’t the cavalry, coming to save yer friend are ya” he says. The voice however, is unmistakably that, of the small man from the exhibition.

Eva doesn’t bother with an answer, long villain monologues are not really her thing and she’s exhausted and sick with worry.

“Oh but where are my manners”, he croons, opening his arms wide, palms outstretched, a mockery of a welcoming gesture

“Tell me who you are”, she demands. He tilts his head, “Why, I am curiosity.

And, well, you’re ‘too late’ I guess “– he pauses for maximum effect, smiling sleazily -, “curiosity killed the cat”, he says in a drawly sing-song.

Her knees start to buckle and she holds onto the railing for dear life as she finally pierces the puzzle together.

_She’s dead? He, he killed her? That’s impossible, didn’t cats have seven lives? What was wrong with this weird world and why, oh why did we have to fall into it?_

She didn’t give a shit about metaphors anymore.They could go to hell for all she cared.

Still she won’t to let him go that easily and anyway she kinda has a plan. so she makes one last desperate attempt:

“You know, I didn’t get the rules of this place before, and the weight of words, but I think I understand it now, I’m ready to play. And I’ve chosen a Nickname that fits.” He looks at me, seemingly bored, “Well, go on then, surprise me.”.

“I am satisfaction”, I say; first weak, then again stronger.

He looks at me, somewhat dumbstruck

“Well”, I explain, smile growing on my face, “ _curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back_ , wasn’t it?”.

He grins, “Well, guess you’ve solved it, no hard feelings or anything” Just as she wants to retort that yes, there may be some ‘hard feelings’, he vanishes. “That’s just typical”, she muttered, before running over to her friend, who lay lax and lifeless on the wooden floor.

 

When Laura came to herself, she felt slightly disoriented. Hesitantly she opened her eyes, and came to face Eva who was sitting beside her with a worried expression.

“Damn”, Laura mumbled, “I think you just saved my life”.

“I think I did, yeah”, Eva looked relieved.

______________________________

 

“Well that’s a tad melodramatic, don’t you think?”

“Who are you to judge, I’ve seen you cry while watching Titanic!”

“But that really was very dramatic, it was a matter of life and death”

“Uhuh, and aren’t we all just glad that Jack didn’t let go.”

“I can’t believe y’all.”

______________________________

 

As they made their way out, they passed by the mirror in the hallway. Laura startled, “Why is my cheek red?” “No reason”, Eva replied cheerfully.

“Did you slap me, while I was unconscious?”, Laura asked indignantly.

“Would you rather I slapped you when you’re awake?—No, don’t be like that, hey, sleeping beauty I just wanted to wake you up”, Eva retorted with a wink.

Outside the sky was falling, literally falling, in dark black drops running together on the ground in shining puddles. By closer inspection it seemed as though the dark rain was taking the houses with it, tearing them down dribble by dribble. “So that’s it”, Laura stated. “That’s it”, Eva agreed, “we’ve let Curiosity kill the cat, however involuntarily, and we’ve ‘killed the king’ so to speak by changing the rules and beating the world at it’s own game.”

Laura nods. Side by side they look at the sky, while the ink falls down and takes them back to their own world.

 

_______________________________

 

“So wait what you’re saying is, you never hated each other at all?”

“Nope”, Eva grins. “Or yup, I suppose”, Laura shrugs, “whichever means that we fooled you”, she smirls. Eva looks faintly sick.

“You guys are unbelievable..”

“I hope you’ll be happy together”

“How did you even start that?”

“Well—“, they both start-

“At first there was that rumour of our big argument, which we both refused”, Laura begins. “But people just wouldn’t stop asking about it, so we thought if there’s gonna be a story going around well then we’d better make it a good one”, Eva finishes.

“So we just started making things up”-

“Like fights or arguments”-

“And so I told somebody something about a lil disagreement we’ve had”-

“And word got back to me and so I made up another story”-

“Then we just kept one-upping each other”-

“Well and our fake arguments just sounded really funny”-

“Which was why we met up for coffee”

“And then you got sucked into a different world??”

Aand then we got sucked into a different world, exactly.”

“You do realise y’all sound crazy, right??”

“Oh honey”,Laura smirls, “we are”

“And the Starbucks thing?”

“Was a one off”-

“We actually like independent coffee shops better”

“And since distance was no problem – thanks to this one” Eva points at Laura,”and Vincent, we could go to some shops farther away from campus”

“And we’ve been having coffee for quite some time”, she ends.

“Well she’s been having coffee, I prefer tea”, Laura amends.

“Of course you do, you snob.”

“Excuse me??”

They grin, it’s rather obvious they’ve had this argument quite a few times.

The coffee crew at The Busy Bean descends into a heated discussion about who missed the tells and spread the rumours.

Eva and Laura sip their respective beverages.

“Imma just be over here protecting my aura from your negativity”, Eva calls over to the mob of fighting baristas.

“Don’t you mean Laura?”, Laura asks grinning.

“Ah nope”, she replies adamantly, “you can fend for yourself, my aura ,however, needs me”

 

 

Sarah is the first to react, “I liked it, a bit outlandish but very entertaining”

“Oh, I don't know, it was pretty cheesy and the last part?? You should be ashamed of yourself!”, Laura interjects.

“Oh come on”, Eva complains, “you know I would do a lot for you” “Like walk 5.000 miles?”, Laura shoots back. “Hell, I’d write 5.000 words.”, Eva retorts smiling.

“Well easy for you to like it, you got to pretty much be yourself but I? You just replaced me with a bickering couple? For what? Comic relief?”,argues Finlay, looking over to Sarah.

“Um, that’s the gist, yes”, Eva noddingly admits, not at all bashful.

“Also”, she justifies, “you and Andy really are not much for entertainment, I mean, you and Sarah are quite cute, but in a slightly nauseating way and where’s the fun in that.”.

Laura nods approvingly, toasting her with her Pumpkin Spice Latté.

“Really?? I demand a refund!”, Andy states sulkily. “Refund?? What am I – the state?”, Eva responds laughing.

“Well I would like to refund my PSL”, Laura interrupts pointedly.

“How would you rate it?”, asks Finlay with a mischievous look on his face.

“Hmm, let me think”, she takes a sip and swirls it around her mouth, smacking her lips. “Ok, here comes the review- pro: doesn’t taste like coffee and the pumpkin is barely noticeable,

con: the pumpkin is barely noticeable and it’s too sweet. Overall rating four out of ten.”

Andy sits up in his seat, “Excuse me, I went to an extra stuff training for autumn drinks, I’m a pumpkin spice expert, I’m the pumpkin king!!”

Sarah, who can’t fight the grin coming to her face, “Literally or figuratively?”

Andy’s eyes go wide, “Figuratively”, he amends quickly, “a hundred percent figuratively.”

Eva and Laura share a look, and fail to suppress their laughter, soon cackling outright. Seconds later the others join in the hilarity. The sky is clear.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Branniversary!! Now take these words and choke on them.  
> No, sorry, that was harsh, you know I deeply value you- but still, next year we're gonna present each other with normal gifts instead like normal people... Jesus Christ, what a ride.  
> Lots of Love and all that xx


End file.
